1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fan guard and an air conditioner having the same, and more particularly to a fan guard mounted to an air outlet to shield a fan, and an outdoor unit of an air conditioner having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an air conditioner refers to a device that circulates air of an interior space using a refrigeration cycle. Especially a split-type air conditioner in which an indoor unit and an outdoor unit are separately installed is widely used.
The indoor unit includes an indoor heat exchanger in which a coolant is flowing, and a ventilator which forcibly blows air around the indoor heat exchanger. Such an indoor unit is installed in the interior space. The outdoor unit includes an outdoor heat exchanger in which a coolant is flowing, a compressor which compresses the coolant, and a ventilator which forcibly blows air around the outdoor heat exchanger so as to improve the heat exchanging efficiency of the coolant flowing through the outdoor heat exchanger.
The outdoor heat exchanger, the compressor, and the ventilator are mounted in and shielded by a housing. The housing includes an air inlet to draw in the outside air and an air outlet to exhaust the inside air out of the housing. The air outlet is disposed to face a ventilation fan of the ventilator. In addition, the air outlet includes a fan guard to prevent access of a human body part, such as a finger, to the ventilation fan rotating at a high speed, as well as protecting the ventilation fan and preventing infiltration of foreign substances.
FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 respectively show a conventional fan guard and part of a conventional air conditioner mounted with the same.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the conventional fan guard 11 comprises a central plate 12 disposed in the center thereof, a plurality of closed ribs 13 concentrically arranged from the central plate 12 toward the outside in sequence, and a plurality of radial ribs 14 arranged in radial directions to connect the plurality of closed ribs 13 to one another. Also, a plurality of fixing brackets 15 are formed along an outermost closed rib 13 to achieve screw-connection. Since the pluralities of closed ribs 13 and radial ribs 14 are arranged coplanarly, the above-structured conventional fan guard 11 forms a flat plane as a whole except for an outline thereof where the fixing brackets 15 are formed.
As shown in FIG. 2, the conventional fan guard 11 covers an air outlet 17 mounted to a housing 16 at a position facing a ventilation fan 18, in order to prevent infiltration of foreign substances into the housing 16, prevent breakdown of the ventilation fan 18 caused by the foreign substances, and also prevent a part of a human body from getting into the housing 16 in which the ventilation fan 18 is rotating at a high speed.
However, the conventional fan guard 11 as described above is frail due to the planar structure where the pluralities of closed ribs 13 and radial ribs 14 are arranged on one plane. In other words, the conventional fan guard 11 would be easily deformed or damaged when applied with load in a vertical direction. In order to reinforce stiffness of the conventional fan guard 11, more of the closed ribs 13 and the radial ribs 14 may be mounted. However, this will increase the manufacturing cost.
Furthermore, in the conventional fan guard 11 having the coplanar structure, the closed ribs 13 and the radial ribs 14 are disposed at a short distance from the ventilation fan 18. Therefore, resistance of airflow generated by the operation of the ventilation fan 18 and flow-induced noise are increased.